How free is freedom in Angola?

Henrique Luaty and
other Angolan activists were arrested for allegedly planning to overthrow the
President. His hunger strike and a growing public support can strong-arm the
Angolan government into making way for a democratic transition. Português. Español.

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Luaty Beirao. RTP caption. All rights reserved.

On the 20th of June, fifteen Angolan
activists were arrested in Luanda accused of attempting to disrupt public order
and security. Seventeen activists were formally indicted (two of them were
placed under provisional liberty, Laurinda Gouveia and Rosa Conde) of planning
a coup d’état to remove the President of Angola from power.

According to the attorney general, General Joao
Maria de Sousa, these acts constituted “a crime against the security of the
state, and in consequence, a crime of rebellion”. From his words, one might
think that the activists were distributing weapons or plotting a violent
revolution. Far from it. They were exchanging opinions over two books, seemingly
now a forbidden activity in Angola.

This incident reflects the shape of Angola´s
“democracy”. Simple exchanges of opinions or a critical analysis of any sort is
categorized as “rebellious”. The exercise of basic rights, such as the right to
protest, to associate or simply to read have been labelled as subversive. Warrants
and due process are not observed, and police searches and seizures are conducted
without any legal basis. In short: the Angolan government is ruling through
fear.

Hunger Strike

The activists, of course, refuted the
accusations: they were only meeting to discuss politics and (the lack of) human
rights protection in Angola. Having been placed in preventive detention for
more than 90 days (20 June-20 September), the legal limit according to the
Angolan law, several militants, amongst them, Luaty Beirão, started a hunger strike on the 21th
of September to attract attention to their illegal detention.

Beirão is not an anonymous figure, but the
son of a once important figure in the Dos Santos regime, João
Beirão. His father was the first director of FESA, the Eduardo dos Santos
Foundation. Accused by many of being “a son of the regime”, he often argues
that he “has a brain of his own, and that the actions of his father are not
his”.

Once the trial date was set for the 16th of November, the majority
of the activists quitted the strike. Luaty
Beirão, however, refused to quit, as he believes the situation has not changed.
All the activists remain imprisoned and Angola refuses to respect their fundamental
rights.

In fact, the Supreme Court of Angola has yet to
rule on a writ of habeas corpus presented on the 30th of September,
which demanded that the 15 activists were taken before the court. The
activists argue that their detention is unlawful and that it is not supported.

In a precarious health state, Luaty has finally
ended the hunger strike. In a letter addressed to his fellow activists made public
on 27 of October, Luaty argues that his hunger strike was a victory, and that
the actions of the 17 activists facing trial have successfully put Angola on the
international community radar. As he graphically states, the “mask has fallen”.

Prisoners of
conscience

A boy with an empty wheelbarrow walks underneath an MPLA propaganda banner in the town of Menongue. Demotix. All rights reserved.

The activists’ case has been broadcasted
internationally and triggered several civil society and international NGOs
protests, including Amnesty International,
that has started a campaign against what certainly is a human rights
violation. Several organizations worldwide are claiming that practices such as
arbitrary arrests, the harassment and the intimidation of activists are halted,
and that the right to freedom of association, assembly and expression in Angola
is upheld.

The Portuguese civil society is also paying
close attention to the matter. In an open letter addressed to the Portuguese Foreign
Affairs Minister, several intellectuals, artists and political figures, both
national and international, have called for action. They demand from the
Portuguese Government a proper response to the matter, one that puts an end to
the illegal arrest of Luaty Beirão and the remaining 14 activists.

Underlying that Luaty is not only an Angolan
citizen, but also a Portuguese one, the subscribers remind Portugal of its
duties. They argue that the Portuguese state has an “ethical, moral and
constitutional” duty to protect its citizens. Claiming that Human Rights cannot
rank lower than diplomatic relations nor political ideology, the letter
underlines that Portugal cannot remain as a silent witness in what they believe
does not fall short of “political arrests”.

In this line, Pilar del Rio, the chair of the
Saramago´s foundation, also addressed a letter to the president
of Angola, asking
him to save the life of Luaty Beirão and protect the freedom of expression of
the 14 activists currently detained.

Additionally, vigil concentrations took place
both in Lisbon and Porto, on the 21 of October (called by “Liberdade aos Presos
Políticos em Angola”) under the cry of “Libertad Já!” (Freedom Now!). Meanwhile
in Angola, protests in support for the #Angola15 and against José Eduardo dos
Santos are being forbidden on the grounds of being a “menace to public security”.

Human rights over sovereignty

Wikipedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

Portugal has been providing the
Angolan regime with what they needed the most: a layer of respectability. It is
certainly true that this case entails historical, economic and cultural bonds
that are not easy to contour. Obviously, Portugal’s economic dependence on Angola’s
oil and other commodities makes things worse.

However, the argument that the
sovereignty of the states awards them a free pass to violate human rights does
not hold anymore among the international community, despite the many cases that
persist around the globe.

Human rights are universal and
political prisoners are political prisoners. Here, in Angola and anywhere in
the world. The political contours of this case are unavoidable and Portugal
cannot excuse itself by citing Angola’s judicial system (or lack of it).

Portugal´s historical and
traditional links with Angola are no excuse. In fact, such links should
reinforce Portugal commitment to ensure that Angola moves beyond decades
of kleptocracy. Portugal tends to confuse respect for subservience. One
think is to respect Angola’s sovereignty, another to place it over the dignity
of its citizens, and in this case, over Portugal’s duty to protect their
nationals, at home or abroad. This is
not only a moral obligation, but also a diplomatic duty.

Democracy rising

President of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos. Wikimedia Commons.

Luaty Beirão and his companions,
also belonging like himself to the so-called “children
of the regime”, have accomplished something unheard of in the history of
Angola: to put its regime (locally and internationally) under public scrutiny. What
begun as a solidarity wave has now become a true pro-democracy movement.

The Angolan regime wrongly
believed that they could quell the people through arms. It didn’t work during
colonialism. It certainly will not work now. A lack of historical memory,
together with disrespect for freedom and justice, ended up creating not one revolutionary,
but thousands. As Luaty writes in his letter, “this time Angolans fight, in
peace, for a true social transformation”.

Gene Sharp writes
in his book that “the often quoted phrase
freedom is not free is true. [That] No outside force is coming to give
oppressed people the freedom they so much want. People will have to learn how
to take that freedom themselves. Easy it cannot be”.

Activists in Angola have
certainly made this idea their own. Self-sacrifice and non-violent strategies
have been used and many paid a steep price for freedom. However, they should
not be fully charged for enjoying something that we all have a right to. In a
globalized and interconnected world, sovereignty must surely have limits. And
those limits include democratic values and human rights.

Luaty Beirão’s actions may be described
by many as being nonsense, as a romantic gesture that cannot change anything. And
yet for the first time since 2002, consensus around Mr. Dos Santos is crumbling.
International campaigns are raising awareness over the true shape of Angola´s
“democracy”. Political prisoners are being rightfully recognized as such and
the MPLA and the government is increasingly losing its grip over Angolans
hearts and minds.

Protests in Luanda are being forbidden or repressed, however winds of change are
blowing. Protests in Lisbon, the international echo of Luaty´s hunger strike
and the joint declaration for the liberation of the 15
activists issued by the opposition are all signs that Angola conscience, and
other countries stand, is changing. Thirty-six days of hunger strike, one for each year Mr. Dos Santos has
been in power, may open the doors for a peaceful transition few thought it would be possible.

As Luaty Beirão action has
demonstrated, and contrary to what many people in Africa still believe, ideas
and non-violent action can change the outcome of a country. Angola’s
superficial veil of respectability and commitment to democratic values has been
lifted and its true nature has been exposed. The international community should take note.

Year 2015 marks the celebrations
of the 40 years independence of Angola from Portugal. Let us hope that Angola,
and Angolans, have something to celebrate in addition to having put their
colonial history behind them. Hopefully, Luaty Beirão and all his fellow prisoners
of conscience, will be free and celebrating a new dawn in Angola. One where
true democracy is making the scene.

Everyone is looking at Luanda right now. And at
Lisbon. And it´s about time

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